Reading Brought Them Together
by ProngsiemoonyPadsie
Summary: The Kane gang and Percy gang are sent to a penthouse to read eachothers books by the gods. Let's see how it goes! A bit OOC. I own nothing! Every character in her and every bold word belong to the amazing Rick Riordan.
1. The Heros meet

In a gigantic penthouse a giant black hole opened up in the ceiling. fifteen screaming figures fell from it and land on the floor. The lucky ones landing on the two couches that where in the living room. "Ow, that bloody hurt!" a blonde girl with red highlights yelled. "Well at lest you landed on the couch random British girl." A black haired dude groaned. The black haired boy stood up from the coffee table he landed on and broke. "You guys okay?" The guys asked.

"If having a plant up your butt. Then yeah I'm awesome!" A thirteen boy dressed in black said.

"Anubis? What are you doing out of Walt?" Sadie asked.

"Uh, who? And you do know that sounds wrong right?"

"You know this girl Nico?" Percy asked.

"No." Nico said. "And I'm happy I don't she's a bit annoying."

"Annoying?" Sadie screeched. "Why you little Anubis impersonator!"

"Who the Hades is Anubis?" Nico yelled back. "You annoying fake British accent talking girl!"

Before Sadie could yell back a box fell in front of the both groups. "What the Hades?" Percy asked.

"It has a note." Annabeth plucked the note that was taped to the box. "It says:

_Dear, Demigods and Magicians_

_We have teleported you to this penthouse to meet each other. Since the Greeks and Romans have already met it is possible that it won't be long until you two meet. So we decided that we should put you together and tell each other about your adventures._

_In this box there are thirteen books. You would read each one to learn how to get along so the world won't be destroyed in your cold blood war._

_From your friends, The Greek, Roman, and Egyptian Gods" _

When Annabeth finished reading the note all fifteen teens groaned. "Egyptians! There's more gods out there? Great." Percy said.

"So," Carter said, stretching the word. "You're Greeks and Romans."

"Yup." Leo said, popping the 'p'. "I'm Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus."

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite."

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. No I am not Anubis ."

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the Hunters."

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars."

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto."

"Grover Underwood, Satyr, god of the wild."

"Nice to meet you. "I'm Carter Kane, former host of Horus. Pharaoh of Egypt."

"Sadie Kane, sister of Carter former host of Isis."

"Walt Stone, current host of Anubis."

"Zia Rashid, former host of Ra."

"Bast, goddess of cats and protection."

"So which books should we read first?" Zia asked.

"Ours!" Sadie yelled out. "There is a lot of embarrassing things in the books." Carter nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Annabeth said. She picked up the first book of the **Kane Chronicles**.

"Chapter one, **A Death at the Needle**."


	2. A Death at the Needle

"Chapter one, **A Death at the Needle**."

_**We only have a few hours, **_**so listen carefully.**

**If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance. Go to the school. Find the locker.**

"What school? What locker?" Nico and Leo asked.

**I won't tell you which school or which locker,**

"Aww..."

**because if you're the person then you'll find it. The combination is 13/32/33. By the time you finish listening you'll know what those numbers mean. Just remember the story we're about to tell you isn't complete yet. How it ends depends on you. **

"Wow, dramatic." Percy said.

"Well it was a dramatic moment for us." Carter defended.

**The most important thing: when you open the package and find what's inside, **_**don't**_** keep it longer than a week. Sure, it would be tempting.**

**I mean, it will grant almost unlimited power.**

**But if you posses it too long, it will consume you.**

**Hide it for the next person like Sadie and I did for you. Then be prepared for your life to get very interesting.**

"Gods of Egypt you talk too much." Sadie groaned.

Carter rolled his eyes, "Well I had to explain how to find it didn't I? And how they were going to get into trouble."

"Yes, but you could have made it sound less boring."

"How could I tell them something that might cost them their life and sound boring?"

"You do that with everything you say really."

Everyone was chuckling at the two. Bast sensing that the siblings were going to keep at it signaled at Annabeth to continue.

**Okay, Sadie is telling me to stop stalling and get on with the story. Fine. I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum. **

"Ha, sounds like Percy." Thalia said.

"Yup." Grover and Annabeth said.

"I never blew up a British Museum!" Percy defended.

"Yes but you blew up a school gym, a art room and a mountain."

"A mountain?" The Egyptians and the new trio asked.

"Long story."

**My name is Carter Kane. I'm fourteen and my home is a suitcase. **

"Hobo!" Leo and Nico yelled.

"I am not a hobo!" Carter yelled while others chuckled.

**You think I'm kidding? Since I was eight years old, my dad and I have traveled the world. I was born in L.A.**

Annabeth shivered remembering the things Percy, Grover and her had to go through to get to the underworld.

**but my dad is an archaeologist, so his work takes him all over. Mostly we go to Egypt, since that's his specialty. Go into a bookstore, find a book about Egypt, there's a pretty good chance it was written by Dr. Julius Kane.**

Annabeth gasped when she read Carter's dad's name. "The Dr. Julius Kane is your father?"

"Uh, yeah." Carter said.

"Why?" Sadie asked.

"Your father is one of my favorite writers! Do you think you could get him to sign my books for me. I have all his books I even-"

"Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth!" Thalia snapped her fingers in front of Annabeth's fac.

"Huh?"

"Read honey." Annabeth nodded and started to read.

**You want to know how Egyptians pulled the brains out of mummies, or built pyramids, or cursed King Tut's tomb?**

Walt winced at the mention of curse.

**My dad is your man. Of course, there are other reasons my dad moved around so much, but I didn't know his secret back then. I didn't go to school. My dad homeschooled me, if you can call it "home" schooling when you don't have when you don't have a home. He sort of taught me whatever he thought was important, so I learned a lot of Egypt and basketball stats and my dad's favorite musicians. I read a lot, too-pretty much anything I could get in my hands on, from dad's history books to fantasy novels-**

"I think Annabeth and him would be great friends." Grover said.

Annabeth smiled at Conner which made him blush a bit but he smiled back.

**because I spent a lot of time in hotels and airports and dig sites in foreign countries where I didn't know anybody.**

**My dad was always telling me to put the book down and play some ball. You ever try to start a game of pick-up basketball in Awsan, Egypt? It's not easy. Anyway, my dad trained me early to keep my possessions in a single suitcase that fits in an airplane's overhead compartment. My dad packed the same way, except was allowed an extra workbag for his archaeology tools . **

"It wasn't for tools Carter." Zia scolded her boyfriend.

"I know that now!"

"Wait, what's in it then?" Jason asked.

"Oh nothing important." Sadie waved away his question.

**Rule number one: I was not allowed to look in his workbag. **

"And you followed it?" Sadie asked.

"Yes, because I'm the good child." Carter said.

"And the boring brother."

Carter did the mature thing, he stuck out his tongue like a little five year old.

**That's a rule I never broke until the day of the explosion. It happened Christmas Eve. We were in London for visitation day with my sister, Sadie.**

Sadie rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah _now _you mention me."

**See, Dad's only allowed two days a year with her-one in the winter, one in summer-because our grandparents hate him. After mom died, her parents (our grandparents) had this big court battle with Dad. After six lawyers, two fistfights, and a near fatal attack with a spatula (don't ask),**

Every one chuckled even Carter and Sadie.

**they won the right to keep Sadie with them in England. She was only six, two years younger than me, and they couldn't keep us both-at least that was their excuse for not taking me. So Sadie was raised as a British school kid, and I traveled around with my dad. We only saw Sadie twice a year, which was fine me.**

**[Shut up, Sadie. Yes-I'm getting to that point.]**

**So Anyway, my dad and I had just flown into Heathrow after a couple of delays. It was a drizzly, cold afternoon. The whole taxi ride into the city, my dad seemed kind of nervous. Now, my dad is a big guy. You wouldn't think anything could make him nervous, he has dark brown skin like mine, piercing brown eyes, a bald head, and a goatee, so he looks like a buff evil scientist. That afternoon he wore his cashmere winter coat and his best brown suit, the one he used for public lectures.**

"I've been to his lectures before." Annabeth said, "Are you that boy that sits behind him with that bag on your lap."

"Yup," Carter popping the 'p'.

**Usually he exudes so much confidence that he dominates any room he walks into, but sometimes-like that afternoon-I saw another side to him that I didn't really understand. He kept looking over his shoulder like we were being hunted. **

Annabeth mind started working over time. _Who's following them?_

**"Dad?" I said as we were getting off the A-40.** **"What's wrong?"**

**"No sign of them," he muttered. Then he must've realized he had spoken out loud because he looked at me kind of startled. "Nothing, Carter. Everything's fine." Which bothered me because my dad's a terrible liar. **

"Ha, sounds like you Grover." Nico said.

"_Bla-ha-ha! _I've gotten better." Grover defended.

"No you haven't." The rest of the Demigods rang together. Making Grover grumble something about bad best friend.

**I always knew he was hiding something, but I also knew mo amount of pestering would get the truth out of him. He was probably trying to protect me, through from what I didn't know. Sometimes I wondered if he had some dark secret in his past, some old enemy following him, maybe; but the idea seemed ridiculous. Dad was just an archaeologist. **

"Idiot," Sadie grunted while Carter glared at her.

**The other thing that troubled me: Dad was clutching his workbag. Usually when he does that, it means we're in danger. Like the time gunmen stormed our hotel in Cairo. I heard shots coming from the lobby and ran downstairs to check on my dad. By the time I got there, he was just calmly zipping up his workbag while three unconscious gunmen hung by their feet from the chandelier, their robes falling over their heads so you could see their heads so you could see their boxer shorts.**

Everybody laughed.

**Dad claimed not to have witnessed anything, and in the end the police blamed a freak chandelier malfunction.**

"Wait weren't the dudes in the robes hanging _from _the chandelier?" Sadie asked.

"Ah, mortals are so funny." Nico said.

**Another time, we got caught in a riot in Paris. My dad found the nearest parked car, pushed me into the backseat, and told me to stay down. I pressed myself against the floorboards and kept my eyes shut tight. I could hear Dad in the driver's seat, rummaging in his bag, mumbling something to himself while the mob yelled and destroyed things outside. A few minutes later he told me it was safe to get up. Every other car on the block had been overturned and set on fire. Our car had been freshly washed and polished and several twenty-euro notes have been tucked under the windshield wipers.**

"And you didn't suspect a thing?"

"Uh no."

Sadie groaned, "You really are an idiot."

**Anyway, Id come to respect the bag. It was our good luck charm. But when my dad kept it close, it meant we were going to need good luck. We drove through the city center, heading east toward my grandparents' flat. We passed the golden gates of Buckingham Palace, the big stone column in Trafalgar Square. London is a pretty cool,**

Sadie grinned. She loved the city that she was raised in with all her heart.

**but after you've traveled for so long, all cities start to blend together.**

At that Sadie made a very unattractive snorting sound. "How could you say that? London is the best city in the world!"

"Uh, I big to differ. New York is considered 'The Empire State'" Percy said. "So New York really _is _the greatest city in the world."

**Other kids I meet sometimes say, "Wow, you're so lucky you get to travel so much." But it's not we spend our time sightseeing or have a lot of money to travel in style. We've stayed in some pretty rough places, and we hardly ever stay anywhere longer than a few days. Most of the time it feels like we're fugitives rather than tourists.**

Carter dryly laughed at how ironic the sentence was.

**I mean you wouldn't think my dad's work was dangerous. He does lectures on topics like "Can Egyptian Magic Really Kill You?" **

"Yes," All the magicians rang.

**and "Favorite Punishments in the Egyptian Underworld" and other stuff most people wouldn't care about. But like I said, there's another side to him. He's always very cautious, checking every hotel room before he lets me walk into it. He'll dart into museum to see some artifacts, take a few notes, and rush out again like he's afraid to be caught on the security cameras.**

**One time when I was younger, we raced across the Charles de Gaulle airport to catch a last-minute flight, and Dad didn't relax until the plane was off the ground, I asked him point blank what he was running from, and he looked at me like I'd just pulled the pin out of a grenade. **

"You kind of did." Zia said.

**For a second I was scared he might actually tell me the truth. Then he said, "Carter, it's nothing." As if "nothing was the most terrifying thing in the world. After that, I decided maybe it was better not to ask questions.**

**My grandparents, the Fausts, live in a housing development near Canary Wharf, right on the banks of the River Thames. The taxi let us off at the curb, and my dad asked the driver to wait. We were halfway up the walk when Dad froze. He turned and looked behind us.**

The demigods and wild god leaned in.

**"What?" I asked. Then I saw the man in the trench coat. **

Carter and Sadie smiled knowingly. That was defiantly their jazz loving uncle.

**He was across the street, leaning against a big dead tree. He was barrel shaped, with skin the color of roasted coffee. his coat had black pinstriped suit looked expensive. He had long braided hair and wore a black fedora pulled down low over his dark round glasses.**

Yup, Carter and Sadie thought. That's our uncle.

**He reminded me of a jazz musician, the kind my dad would always drag me to see in concert. Even though I could see his eyes, I got the impression he was watching us. He might've been an old friend or colleague of Dad's. No matter where went, Dad was always running into people he knew. But it did seem strange that the guy was waiting here, outside my grandparents'. And he didn't look happy. "Carter," my dad said, "go on ahead."**

**"But-"**

"Well at least you tried to fight back." Sadie nodded her head signaling that she approved.

**"Get your sister. I'll meet you back at the taxi."**

**He crossed street toward the man in the trench coat, which left me with two choices: follow my dad and see what was going on, or do what I was told. I decided on the slightly less dangerous path. I went to retrieve my sister.**

Sadie rolled her eyes.

**Before I could even knock, Sadie opened the door. "Late as usual," she said. **

"What a nice hello." Percy said.

"At least she didn't throw a book at me like last time."

"Oh, don't be such a baby. It was a paperback."

**She was holding he cat, Muffin, Who'd been a "going away" gift from Dad six years before. Muffin never seemed to get older or bigger. She had fuzzy yellow-and-black fur like a miniature leopard, alert yellow eyes, and pointy ears that were too tall for her head. A silver Egyptian pendent dangled from her collar. She didn't look anything like a muffin, but Sadie had been little when she named her, so I guess you have to cut her some slack. **

**Sadie hadn't changed much either since last summer. **

**[As I'm recording this, she's standing next to me, glaring, so I'd better be careful how I describe her.]**

**You would never guess she's my sister. First of all, she'd been living in England so long, she has a British accent. **

"Pfft, yeah right." Nico said. "Percy has a better British accent then her."

"My British accent is very much real, thank you."

"Oh no, I believe you governor." Nico said in a fake accent. "No need to put your panties in a twist."

**Second, she takes after our mom, who was white, so Sadie's skin is much lighter than mine. She has straight caramel-colored hair, not exactly blonde but not brown, which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors. That day it had red streaks down the left side. Her eyes are blue. I'm serious. **_**Blue **_**eyes, just like our mom's. **

"Yes we get it." Nico said "She is damn right fugly! It's so sad that we have to in dour her fugliness." Carter and the rest of the demigods , magicians, and magical creatures tried to resist from laughing, while Sadie death glared at Nico. Who smirked back at her.

**She's only twelve but she's exactly as tall as me, which is really annoying. She was chewing gum as usual, dressed for her day out with Dad in battered jeans, a leather jacket, and combat boots, like she was going to a concert and was hoping to stomp on some people. She had headphones dangling around her neck in case we bored her. **

**[Okay she didn't hit me, so I guess I did an okay job of describing her.]**

**"Our plane was late," I told her. **

**She popped a bubble, rubbed Muffin's head, and tossed the cat inside. "Gran, going out!" From somewhere in the house, Grandma Faust said something I couldn't make out, probably "Don't let them in!"**

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Oh what lovely grandparents."

**Sadie closed the door and regard me as if I were a dead mouse her cat had just dragged in. "So, here you are again."**

**"Yep." **

**"Come on, then." She sighed. "Let's get on with it." **

**That's the way she was. No "Hi, how you been the last six months? So glad to see you!" or anything. But that was okay with me. When you only see each other twice a year, it's like you're distant cousins rather than siblings. We had absolutely nothing in common except our parents. We trudged down the steps. I was thinking how she smelled like a combination of old people's house and bubble gum **

Sadie smelled her clothes to see if she did smell like bubble gum and old people. And to her horror, she did.

**when she stopped so abruptly, I ran into her. "Who's that?" she asked. I'd almost forgotten about the dude in the trench coat. He and my dad were standing across the street next to the big tree, having what looked like a serious argument. Dad's back was turned so I couldn't see his face but he gestured with hands like he does when he's agitated. The other guy scowled and shook his head. "Dunno," I said "He was there when we pulled up."**

**"He looks familiar." Sadie frowned like she was trying to remember. "Come on."**

**"Dad wants us to wait in the cab," I said, even though I knew it was no use. Sadie was already on the move. Instead of going straight across the street, she dashed up the side walk half a block, ducking behind cars, then crossed to the opposite side and crouched under a low stone wall. She started sneaking toward our dad. I didn't have much choice but to follow her example, even though it made me feel kind of stupid. **

"It made you look stupid too." Sadie smirked.

Carter glared, "Look who's talking."

**"Six years in England" I muttered, "and she thinks she's James Bond."**

"And apparently think that she has a British accent." The mini Hades said.

**Sadie swatted me without looking back kept creeping forward. A couple more steps and we were right behind the big dead tree. I could hear my dad on the other side, saying "-have to, Amos. You know it's the right thing." **

**"No," said the other man, who must've been Amos. His voice was deep and even-very insistent. His accent was American. "If I don't stop Julius, **_**they **_**will. the Per Ankh is shadowing you." Sadie turned to me and mouthed the words "Per **_**what**_**?" I shook my head , just mystified. "Let's get out of here," I whispered, because I figured we'd be spotted any minute and get trouble. Sadie of course, ignored me. **

"Like always," Carter mumbled.

**"They don't know my plan," My father was saying. "Buy the time they figure it out-"**

**"And the children?" Amos asked. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck.**

Sadie shuddered, "I hate it when they do that."

"You get used to it." Percy said.

"Really?"

"No."

**"What about them?"**

**"I've made arrangements to protect them." My dad said. "Besides, if I don't do this, we're all in danger. Now back off."**

**"I can't Julius."**

**"Then is it a duel you want?" **

Leo snorted, "Who says duel these days?"

**Dad's tone turned deadly serious. "You never could beat me, Amos." I hadn't seen get violent since the Great Spatula Incident, and I wasn't anxious to see a repeat of **_**that**_**, but the two men seemed to be edging toward a fight. Before I could react, Sadie popped up and shouted, "Dad!"**

"No!" Two new voices said. "You never give away your positions when your eavesdropping! It's in the rule book!"

"Connor? Travis?"

"Hey Perce!" The Stoll brothers said. (A/N: I had to add them! It felt wrong without them!)

"Wassup guys!" Leo said, rising his hand for a high-five. Both Stolls grinned and high-fived Leo. Since Leo got to camp he and the Stolls really hit it off. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We've been here since Nico did a fake British accent." Travis said.

"Oh by the way Nicks." Connor smirked at Nico's annoyed face at his nickname. "Nice job with the mocking! Worthy of Hermes."

"Whatever."

"So who are those people that are wearing pajamas?" Travis pointed towards the Kane bunch. "Are you guys having a sleepover without us?"

Connor dramatically gasped, "I thought we were friends! How could you!" Then Connor mockingly fainted into Travis's arms while the rest of the group rolled their eyes or staring at them like they were total weirdoes.

"Uh, who are these two blokes?" Sadie said.

"We're not blocks. Do we look like Legos to you?"

"No Travis. _Bloke_. It's British slang for boys." Annabeth said while Travis and Connor and nodded in understanding.

"Well my British crumpet," Travis said. "I am Travis Stoll. One of the Stoll brothers and one of the many and I mean many amazing children of Hermes. And this, "He motioned towards Connor. "Is my partner in crime and little brother, Connor Stoll."  
Connor mockingly bowed down at his name.

"Who may you be? My dear English lady." Connor asked.

"Sadie Kane." Right when she said her name both brothers made a face.

"So you're the one that blew your cover." Travis shook his head and made a 'tisk tisk' sound. "Shame on you."

"Can we continue now?" Leo asked. "I'm getting hungry and I would like to shove my face into a Big Mac." (A/N: Sponsor!)

"I second that motion." Nico said.

"Well then shut up and let me finish the damn chapter!" Annabeth yelled. Connor quickly squeezed between Nico and Leo since the couch was filled up with the Greeks and Romans it was pretty tight. Travis had to sit on one of the arms of the couch.

"Oh gods this is just like the Hermes table back at camp." Travis said.

"No personal space. People eating out of our plates. Wet willies." Both Connor and his brother got dreamy looks as he listed the stuff that happened at their table.

"I said shut up!" Annabeth yelled at Connor. (A/N: Haha, this was long.)

**He looked surprised when she tackel-hagged him, but not nearly as surprised as the other guy, Amos.**

"It's because of her fuglyness. It scared him so much that he feel back." Nico said.  
**  
-He backed up so quickly, he tripped over his own trench coat.-**

"Haha, fail." Thalia said.

**He'd taken off his glasses. I couldn't help thinking that Sadie was right.**

"Ha!" Sadie yelled triumphantly and pointed a finger into Carter's face. "You just said I was right." Carter rolled his eyes at his sister.

**He did look familiar-like a very distant memory. "I-I must be going," he said. He straightened his fedora and lumbered down the road. Our dad watched him go. He kept one arm protectively around Sadie and one hand inside the workbag slung over his shoulder. Finally, when Amos disappeared around the corner, Dad relaxed. He took his hand out of the bah and smiled at Sadie. "Hello, sweetheart."**

**Sadie pushed away from him and crossed her arms. "Oh now it's **_**sweetheart**_**, is it?"**

Sadie looked down at her feet. Nico was about to comment when Carter gave him a glare. It didn't scare him but Thalia was giving him a death glare too so he kept his mouth shut.

**You're late. Visitation Day's nearly over! And what was that about? Who's Amos, and what's the Per Ankh?" Dad stiffened. He glanced at me like he was wondering how much we'd heard.**

"I know how he feels," Grover grumbled causing Percy to grin at him.

**"It's nothing," he said, trying to sound upbeat. "I have a wonderful evening planned. Who'd like a private tour of the British Museum?"**

"Well that sounds like fun." Jason said.

"I know right!" Annabeth smiled, not knowing that Jason was being sarcastic.

**Sadie slumped in the back of the taxi between Dad and me. "I can't believe it," She grumbled. "One evening together, and you want to do research." Dad tried for a smile . "Sweetheart, it'll be fun. The curator of the Egyptian collection personally invited-" **

**"Right, big surprise." Sadie blew a strand of red-streaked hair out of her face.**

"I was such a brat back then." Sadie said.

"Yeah," Carter said. "and you still are." Sadie glare-pouted at him and punched him in the shoulder.

**"Christmas Eve, and we're going to see some moldy old relics from Egypt. Do you ever think about anything else?" Dad didn't get mad. He never gets mad at Sadie. He just stared out the window at the darkening sky and the rain. "Yes," he said quietly. "I do."**

Carter and Sadie both smiled sadly at each other, knowing what-_who_-their father was thinking about.

**Whenever Dad got quiet like that and started off into nowhere, I knew he was thinking about our mom. The last few months, it had been happening a lot. I'd walk into our hotel room and find him with his cell in his hands, Mom's picture smiling up at him from the screen-her hair tucked under a headscarf, her blue eyes startling bright against the desert backdrop.**

"Wow," Annabeth breathed out. "Your mom sounds beautiful."

All the demigods and Satyr nodded in agreement. The Kane siblings both grinned at the demigods.

"Yeah what happened to you?" Nico asked, looking at Sadie.

Sadie glared at Nico and then turned towards her brother and boyfriend.

"You two have been there, just sitting on your hinnies just letting him insult me like that. What kind of brother and boyfriend are you?"

Carter and Walt both shrugged and said, "You don't like it when we fight your fights."

**Or we'd be at some dig site. I'd see dad starting at the horizon, and I'd know he was remembering how he met her-two young scientist in the Valley of the Kings, On a dig to discover a lost tomb. Dad was an Egyptologist. Mom was an anthropologist looking for ancient DNA. He'd told me the story a thousand times.**

**Our taxi snaked its way along the banks of the Thames. Just past Waterloo Bridge, my dad tensed. "Driver," he said. "Stop here a moment." The cabbie pulled over on the Victoria Embankment. "What is it, Dad?" I asked. He got out of the cab like he hadn't heard me. when Sadie and I joined him on the sidewalk, he was starting up at Cleopatra's Needle.**

Annabeth stopped reading for a second. She had a look on her face like she was thinking. She looked up from the book and looked at the Kanes, "Is this the needle the chapter is named after?"

Sadie and Carter look at each other than turn back at Annabeth and they both shrug.

"You have to keep reading." Carter said.

**In case you've never seen it: the Needle is an obelisk, not a needle , and it doesn't have anything to do with Cleopatra. I guess the British just thought the name sounded cool when they brought it to London. It's about seventy feet tall, which would've been impressive back in Ancient Egypt, but on the Thames, with all the tall buildings around, it looks small and sad.**

**You could drive right by it and not even realize you'd passed something that was a thousand years older than the city of London."God." Sadie walked around in a frustrated circle. "Do we have to stop for **_**every**_** monument?"** **My dad stared at the top of the obelisk "I had to see it again," he murmured. "Where it happened..." **

"Whoa, that's a bit creepy." Leo said.

"What _exactly _happened there?" Piper asked. While the rest of the Greeks and Romans asked questions, Annabeth's mind was running. She stared at the clues that where in the book. "_Where it happened..." _it said. Where it happened. Than it clicked.

Annabeth gasped loudly causing the rest to look towards her. But she ignored them and kept reading. She had to know if she was right.

**A freezing wind blew off the river. I wanted to get back in the cab, but my dad was really starting to worry me. I'd never seen him so distracted. "What, Dad?" I asked. "What happened here?"**

**"The last place I saw her." Sadie stopped pacing. She scowled at me uncertainly, then back at Dad. "Hang on. Do you mean Mum?" Dad brushed Sadie's hair behind her ear, and she was so surprised, she didn't even push him away. I felt like the rain had frozen me solid. Mom's death had always been a forbidden subject. I knew she'd died in an accident in London.**

Annabeth's eyes widened a bit. She was right their mom did die there, but opened a new question. How did she die.

**I knew my grandparents blamed my dad. But no one would ever tell us the details. I'd given up asking my dad, partly because it made him so sad, partly because he refused to tell me anything. "When you're older" was all he would say, which was the most frustrating response ever. "You're telling us she died here," I said. "At Cleopatra's Needle? What happen?"**

"Yes tell me! What happened?" Annabeth yelled at book.

"Um Annabeth," Percy said. He stared at his girlfriend in worry. "Are you okay?"

"No, I am not! I have no idea how their mom could possibly die there! It's killing me that I don't know!" Annabeth massaged her temples in frustration and mumbled in Greek. The Kane gang gave questionably looks at the rest of the Greek gang. "It's a Minerva thing," Hazel told them. "Nothing to worry about.

Sadie had a look of confusion on her face.

"That's the Roman name for Athena." Frank said, noticing the look on her face.

**He lowered his head. "Dad!" Sadie protested. "I go past this **_**every **_**day, and you mean to say-all this time-and I didn't even **_**know**_**?"**

**"Do you still have your cat?" Dad asked her, which seemed like a really stupid question.**

"I'd say." Annabeth said. "What does a cat have to do with this?" She was glaring at the book so hard that she didn't notice Bast glaring at Carter and her.

**"Of course I've still got the cat!" she said.**

Bast girnned at Sadie and she grinned back.

**"What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"And your amulet?" Sadie's hand went to her neck. When we were little, right before Sadie went to live with our grandparents, Dad had given us both Egyptian amulets. Mine was an Eye of Horus, which was a popular protection symbol in Ancient Egypt. In fact my dad says the modern pharmacist's symbol, Rx, is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus, because medicine is supposed to protect you.**

"How did we get from a very dramatic moment to a history lesson?" Percy asked.

Sadie sighed, "Carter does that a lot. I apologize for his nerdiness."

**Anyway, I always wore my amulet under my shirt, but I figured Sadie would've lost hers or thrown it way.**

Sadie looked at her brother. "Do you really think I would have done that?"

Carter shrugged, "Well it's not like you showed that you cared to much about what dad gave you or said to you."

**To my surprise, she nodded. " 'Course I have it, Dad, but don't change the subject. Gran's always going on about how you caused Mum's death. That's not true, is it?" We waited. For once, Sadie and I wanted the same thing-the truth. "The night your mother died," my father started. "here at the Needle-" A sudden flash illuminated the embankment. I turned half blind, and just for a moment I glimpsed two figures: a tall pale man with a forked beard and wearing cream-colored robes, and a coppery-skinned girl in dark blue robes and a headscarf-the kind of clothes I'd seen hundreds of times in Egypt . **

"Creepy," Connor said.

**They were just standing there standing there side by side, not twenty feet away, watching us. Then the light faded. The figures melted into fuzzy afterimage. When my eyes readjusted to the darkness, they were gone. **

"Okay," Travis said. "That's even creepier."

Zia blushed pink and looked at her toes.

**"Um..." Sadie said nervously. "Did you just see that?"**

**"Get in the cab," my dad said, pushing us toward the curb. "This isn't the place to talk," He said, glancing behind us. He'd promised the cabbie an extra ten pounds if he got us to the museum in under five minutes, and the cabbie was doing his best. "Dad," I tried, "those people at the river-" **

**"And the other bloke, Amos," Sadie said.**

"There she goes with the block conspiracy." Travis rolled his eyes. "Why must you call every male a block?"

**"Are they Egyptian police or something?"**

"You could say that," Zia and Bast said.

**"Look both of you," Dad said, "I'm going to need your help tonight. I know it's hard, but you have to be patient. I'll explain everything, I promise, after we get to the museum. I'm going to make everything right again."**

**"What do you mean?" Sadie insisted. "Make **_**what**_** right?" Dad's expression was more than sad. It was almost guilty. With a chill, I thought about what Sadie had said: about our grandparents blaming him for Mom's death. That **_**couldn't **_**be what he was talking about, could it?**

"Why are you asking me? I have no _idea _what the Hades is going on." Annabeth grumbled.

**The cabbie swerved onto Great Russell street and screeched to a halt in front of the museum's main gates. "Just follow my lead," Dad told us. "When we meet the curator, act normal." **

"Ha, Carter? Normal? Please, when talking pigeons dance and sing." Sadie said.

"Well that an unusual saying." Frank said while the rest-except for Carter-laughed.

**I was thinking that Sadie never acted **_**normal**_**, but I decided not to say anything.**

This time it was Sadie's turn to glare at a smirking Carter.

**We climbed out of the cab. I got our luggage while Dad paid the driver with the big wad of cash. The he did something strange. He threw a handful of small objects into the backseat-they looked like stones, **

"Wow," Percy said. ", what a nice tip."

**but it was too dark for me to be sure. "Keep driving," he told the cabbie. "Take us to Chelsea." That made no sense since we were already out of the cab, but the driver sped off. I glanced at Dad, then back at the cab, and before it turned the corner and disappeared in the dark, I caught a weird glimpse of three passengers in the backseat: a man and two kids.**

"Decoys?" Annabeth asked.

"Whoa, so cool!" Leo said

**I blinked. There was no way the cab could've picked up another fare so fast. **

"You'd be surprised," Sadie said. "A lot of street fights start over who gets the cab."

Percy nodded in agreement. After living in New York all his life he has seen a lot of fights.

**"Dad-" **

**"London cabs don't stay empty very long," he said matter-of-factly. "Come along, kids." He marched off through the wrought iron gates. For a second, Sadie and I hesitated.**

**"Carter, **_**what**_** is going on?" I shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to know." **

**"Well, stay out here in the cold if you want, but **_**I'm**_** not leaving without an explanation." She turned and marched after our dad.**

"Oh, sassy." Travis said.

"Nice," Connor finished.

**Looking back on it, I should've run. I should've dragged Sadie out of there and gotten as far away as possible. Instead I followed her through the gates.**

Annabeth let out a sigh as she closed the book. "Well," she said, "that's the end of the first chapter."

"Yahoo!" Both Leo and Nico jumped to their feet.

"To McDonalds!" Nico cheered before they both ran out the door.

"We should probably follow them, to make sure they don't get into much trouble." Hazel said.

"In other words let's go eat!" Travis yelled and the rest of the group followed out the door.

* * *

**Haha! One chapter down fourty chapters and twelve more books to go. *laughs nervously* Yay. Anyways review and wish me luck. **


	3. An Explosion for Christmas

"Jackson your order is ready." Percy stood up and went to pick up the food and came back with three trays of food. One balancing on his head two on his arms.

"Whoa, where did you learn that Perce?" Grover asked.

"I watched a lot of Disney movies when I was a kid."

"Wow, never knew you could be such a girl Perce." Travis smirked at Percy's frown.

"Who cares if Percy is a girl," Nico groaned. "Give me my damn Happy meal!" Sadie rolled her eyes at the son of Hades, "And he says _I'm _annoying."

Once Nico opened his Happy meal horror struck his face. "What in Hades is this?" Nico yelled.

"What's wrong Nico?" Hazel asked her brother. Nico got up from his chair and marched up to the front counter with a bag in his hand. The rest of the gang watched as he pushed through the order line with "Hey watch it kid" and "Stupid emo boy".

"What the Hades is _this_?" Nico asked when he made it to the front.

"They're apple slices kid." The cashier said broadly.

Nico's eye twitched a bit. "Yes," He said. "and what are they doing in my Happy meal? I come here because this place has the most unhealthy but delicious food and what do I get? Apple slices, I get apple slices. What is this? Subway?" Nico's voice kept rising until he was yelling. "If I wanted healthy food I would have gone home and be forced to eat cereal because Demeter insists that _cereal _is _good _for you!"

"And _what _do you want _me _to do?" The cashier raised an eyebrow. At the raise of the said eyebrow Nico jumped to attack but was held back by his sister and two cousins.

"Let me go! I want to kill that son of-"

"Nico language!" Hazel yelled.

"Come on Nico," Percy said. "I'll buy you a Big Mac with extra fries. Sound good?" Nico kept glaring at the cashier who looked back at him with a board look. Nico sighed loudly. "Fine," he said. "but I want an apple pie too." Percy smiled at his little cousin before agreeing.

~Time Skip~

"Well that was an interesting lunch." Zia said as the three groups entered the penthouse. The Kane group watched as the demigod clan sprinted to take spots on the couch forcing the last one to sit on the arm rest. And that sad soul that had to sit on it was Percy. "No fair!" Percy pouted. "Travis tripped me. He cheated!"

Travis shrugged his shoulders, "All is fair in love and war."

"Okay, who's reading next?" Annabeth asked. Annabeth saw that no one raised their hand so she threw it to the nearest person, Percy. "Ow!" Percy yelled as he rubbed his head. "What was that for?"

"Read."

"Why me?"

"No one else wanted to read. So I picked you."

"But it's in English," Percy whined. Annabeth rolled her eyes at her boyfriends whining. "That's why it's charmed seaweed brain. It can change to Ancient Greek if you want it to."

"Oh, cool. Okay so chapter two, **An Explosion for Christmas.**"

**I'd been to the British museum before. In fact I've been in more museums than I like to admit-it makes me sound like a total geek. **

"You are a geek." Sadie said.

"I hate you," Carter glared.

"Love you, too."

**[That's Sadie in the background, yelling that I **_**am **_**a total geek. Thanks sis.]**

"You're welcome!"

**Anyway, the museums was closed and completely dark, but the curator and two security guards were waiting for us on the front steps. "Dr. Kane!" The curator was a greasy little dude in a cheap suit. I'd seen mummies with more hair and better teeth. He shook my dad's hand like he was meeting a rock star. "Your last paper on Imhotep-brilliant! I don't know how you translated those spells!"**

"Who?" Travis asked.

"Imhotep was the first to design the step pyramid and was a high priest." Annabeth informed Travis.

**"Im-ho-who?" Sadie muttered to me.**

**"Imhotep," I said. "High priest, architect. Some say he was an magician. Designed the first step pyramid. You know." **

"It's scary how equally alike you two are." Thalia said.

"Oh man, now we have to Annabeth's to nag us down?" Connor asked. Annabeth pulled her dagger out and glared at Connor. "I'll gut you Hermes spawn."

**"Don't know," Sadie said. "Don't care. But thanks."**

"Weren't you the one who asked who he asked?" Percy asked.

"Yeah well, it was a rhetorically question."

**Dad expressed his gratitude to the curator for hosting us on a holiday. Then he put his hand on my shoulder. "Dr. Martin, I'd like you to meet Carter and Sadie."**

**"Ah! Your son, obviously, and-" The curator looked hesitantly at Sadie. "And this young lady?"**

**"My daughter," Dad said. **

Both Stolls did a spit take. "Whoa! You two are siblings?" Connor asked wide eyed.

"Yes, you got a problem with that?" Sadie crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"No no," Travis raised his hands to show surrender. "Just surprised. You two look _nothing_ alike."

"Thank you."

**Dr. Martin's stare went temporarily blank. Doesn't matter how open-minded or polite people think they are, there's always that moment of confusion that flashes across their faces when they realize Sadie is part of our family. **

**I hate it, but over the years I've come to expect it. The curator regained his smile. "Yes, yes of course. Right this way, Dr. Kane. We're very honored!" The security guards locked the doors behind us. They took our luggage, then one of them reached for Dad's workbag. **

"Ha, as if he would ever be able to."

**"Ah, no," Dad said with a tight smile. "I'll keep this one." The guards stayed in the foyer as we followed the curator into the Great Court. It was ominous at night. Dim light from the glass-domed ceiling cast crosshatched shadows across the walls like a giant spider web. **

Annabeth shivered, "Did you really have to compare it to a spider web?"

"Um yeah why"

"It's a Athena thing." Thalia said. "Nothing to worry about.

**Our footsteps clicked on the white marble floor "So," Dad said, "the stone." **

"Ha, straight to the point. I like this man." Annabeth said.

"Oh looks like you competition Percy. And he may just have the upper hand because he's smart!" Nico smirked.

"I'm smart!" Percy glared.

"But are you smarter than a five grader?"

**"Yes!" the curator said. "Though I can't imagine what new information you could glean from it. It's been studied to death-our famous artifact, of course."**

**"Of course," Dad said "But you may be surprised."**

"Ooooo, drama bomb!" The Stolls sang.

**"What's he on about now?" Sadie whispered to me. I didn't answer. I had a sneaking suspicion what stone they were talking about, but I couldn't figure out why Dad would drag us out on Christmas Eve to see it. I wondered what he'd been about to tell us at Cleopatra's Needle-something about the night she died.**

"Okay, stone, needle, your mom. They're all connected but _how_?" Annabeth asked more to herself.

"I'm worried about her." Percy whispered to Thalia.

"We all are."

**And why did he keep glancing around as if he expected those strange people we'd seen at the Needle to pop up again? We were locked in a museum surround by guards and high-tech security. Nobody could bother us in here-I hoped.**

Everybody laughed at that sentence. Percy was practically wheezing.

After everybody was done having a fit Percy continue reading.

**We turned left into the Egyptian wing. The walls were lined with massive statues of the Pharaohs and gods, but my dad by passed them all and went straight for the main attraction in the middle of the room. "Beautiful,"**

Percy smiled like a goofball and turned around to look at Annabeth. "I know, she is absolutely beautiful. " He said, causing Annabeth to blush. And causing Leo, Nico, Frank, the Graces and the Stolls to fake gag. But of course Piper and Hazel being the Percabeth fangirls squealed like little girls.

**my father murmured. "And it's not a replica?"**

"Nope," Percy said popping the 'P'. "She's the one and only." This time Sadie and Zia squealed with Piper and Hazel. But was interrupted when Nico said, "Alright Romeo, stop with this bull and continue reading the stupid book."

"Your just mad because you're probably going to live and die alone." Sadie said.

Nico glared at her, "I will send you to Tartarus you bi-!"

"Nico!" Percy yelled. "What have I told you about using naughty language?"

"To only use it when you're playing videogames," Nico huffed.

"And?"

"And to use it when you're about to get killed in an alleyway by a freakin' fury."

Percy smirked in satisfaction, "Good boy." **(A/N: You're welcome Percabeth shippers.)**

**"No, no," the curator promised. "We don't always keep the actual stone on display but for you-this is quite real." We were staring at a slab of dark gray rock about three feet tall and two feet wide. **

Annabeth started to get teary eyed. "It sounds so _beautiful_." She said wiping away the tears.

**It sat on a pedestal, encased in a distant bands of writing. The top part was Ancient Egyptian picture writing: hieroglyphics. The middle section...I had to rack my brain to remember what my dad called it: **_**Demotic**_**, a kind of writing from the period when the Greeks controlled Egypt and a lot of Greek words got mixed into Egyptian. The last lines were Greek.**

Cue awkward silence.

**"The Rosetta Stone," I said. **

**"Isn't that a computer program?" Sadie asked. I wanted to tell her how stupid she was, **

"So do I," Nico said. "But I can't because after I saw that it would be followed by a few of the cuss words I know."

**but the curator cut me off with a nervous laugh. "Young lady, the Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphics! It was discovered by Napoleon's army in 1799 and-"**

**"Oh right," Sadie said. "I remember now."**

"Yeah right," Nico huffed. "That's a pile of bull."

"Nico," Percy gave Nico a warning look towards him. Nico sank in his seat and grumble things that made no sense at all. Sadie was just silently watching this from her side of the living room.

**I knew she was just saying that to shut him up, but my dad wouldn't let it go. **

"Of course he wouldn't," Sadie groaned.

"Ha! Busted!" Carter said while poking his little sister in the stomach. Sadie playfully glared at him and slapped his hands away.

**"Sadie," he said, "until this stone was discovered, regular mortals...er, I mean, no one**

"Whoa! Drama bomb!" Connor shouted.

"He's starting to remind me more and more like Grover." Annabeth said.

"Oh maybe him and Grover could be like BMGFFLs!" Travis grinned.

"A what?" Grover said, sounding a little scared.

"Best magical guy friends for life, duh." Connor said for his brother.

**had been able to read hieroglyphics for centuries. The written language of Egypt had been completely forgotten. Then an English named Thomas young proved that the Rosetta Stone's three languages all conveyed the same messages. A Frenchman named Champollion took up the work and cracked the code of Hieroglyphics."**

"Oh my gods," Thalia groaned. "This just turned into a history lesson again."

"This is why I don't read." Nico said.

Sadie rolled her eyes, "Yeah that's the reason why."

Nico glared at her but the rest of the people at the Roman and Greek side tried to smother their laughs. But Thalia, Percy and Hazel laughed loudly.

"It's not funny" Nico deadpanned.

"Maybe not to you, emo boy."

"I don't think you're in no place to criticize Sadie." Carter said, "You are dating the god of the dead. How emo could you get from that?"

"What?" The rest of the guys in the room asked.

"Nothing, just continue reading the bloody book."

**Sadie chewed her gum unimpressed. "What's it say, then?" Dad shrugged. "Nothing important . It's basically a thank you letter from some priests to king Ptolemy V. When it was first carved, the Stone was no big deal. But over the centuries...over the centuries it has become a powerful symbol. Perhaps the most important connection between Ancient Egypt and the modern world. I was a fool not to realize its potential sooner.**

Annabeth's eyes widened, "Whoa, whoa, _whoa_. What potential? _What _do you _mean_?" Annabeth reached over to try and rip the book out of Percy's hands. But Percy quickly put it out further so it would be further out of her reach. "No," Percy said, like he was talking to a dog. "Bad Annabeth. Sit!"

"But I most know..." Annabeth groaned but Percy shook his head and continued reading.

**He'd lost me,**

"Join the club," Annabeth huffed and pouted like a little kid. Ah she looks so cute, Percy thought.

**and apparently the curator too. "Dr. Kane? he asked. "Are you quite all right?" Dad breathed deeply. "My apologies, Dr. Martin. I was just...thinking aloud. If I could have the glass removed? And if you could bring me the papers I asked for from your archives."**

Travis and Connor groaned again. "Is there going to be another history lesson? Because we're getting hungry."

"But we just ate a while ago." Sadie said.

"Yeah like thirty minutes ago."

"_And _we're big boys now! We need fooooood!"

**Dr. Martin nodded. He pressed a code into a small remote control, and the front of the glass box clicked open. "It will take a few minutes to retrieve the notes," Dr. Martin said. "For anyone else, I would hesitate to grant unguarded access to the stone, as you've requested. I trust you'll be careful." He glanced at us kids like we were troublemakers. "We'll be careful," Dad promised.**

"Ha, yeah _real _careful." Sadie mumbled, rolling her eyes.

**As soon as Dr. Martin's steps receded , Dad turned to us with frantic look in his eyes. "Children, this is very important. You have to stay out of this room." He slipped his workbag of his shoulder and unzipped it just enough to pull out a bike chain and padlock. "Follow Dr. Martin. You'll find his office at the end of the Great Court on the left. There's only one entrance. Once he's inside, wrap this around the door handles and lock it tight. We need to delay him."**

"Locking him in?" Travis smiled.

"That is our specialty." Connor and his brother both looked at each other with the same evil grin.

**"You want us to lock him in?" Sadie asked, suddenly interested. "Brilliant!"**

"Ah, we have another evil friend." Travis grinned.

"Come join us. We have Mac and Cheese." Connor waved Sadie over with the same evil smile.

**"Dad," I said, "what's going on?" **

**"We don't have time for explanations," he said. "This will be our only chance. They're coming."**

**"Who's coming?" Sadie asked.**

Annabeth groaned like she just got punched. "That's what I want to know! I must know! Why must you toture me like this?"

"Annabeth," Thalia said. She reached over so she could put her hand on her forehead. "are you feeling okay?"

"Of course I'm fine! Why I wouldn't I be!"

**He took Sadie by the shoulders. "Sweetheart, I love you. And I'm sorry...I'm sorry for many things, but there's no time now. If this works, I promise I'll make everything better for all of us. Carter, you're my brave man. You have to trust me.**

"I have a feeling that this isn't going to turn out so well, is it?" Percy said.

"No...no it's not." Carter choked out.

**Remember, lock up Dr. Martin. Then stay out of this room!"**

**Changing the curator's door was easy. But as soon as we'd finished, we looked back at the way we'd came and saw blue light streaming from the Egyptian gallery, as if our dad had installed a gaint glowing aquarium.**

"Oh, a gaint aquarium would be fun! Do you think you could build me one Valdez?" I think you know who said that.

"Who cares about an aquarium! Keep reading you idiot! I must know!"

"Do you think we might have to tie her up later?" Sadie whispered to Walt.

"We might have too if she gets desperate enough to where she has us to knife point." Walt whipered back. **(A/N: Haha! He speaks!)**

**Sadie locked eyes with me. "Honestly, do you have **_**any**_** idea what he's up too?"**

Annabeth looked at the Kane siblings with a wild look in her eyes. Annabeth jumped to her feet but before she could get to the Kanes, Said brought out a boomerang and yelled out; "_Tas_!"

"Sadie!"

"Cool!"

"I panicked! What was I supose to do?"

"Bazinga!"

"I cry because other people are stupid and it makes me sad."

"Why are you quoting Big Bang?"

"Ah gravity, art thou a heartless bitch."

"Why are you quoting Sheldon Copper?"

"Because he is a true genius."

"Continue reading."

**"None," I said "But he's been acting strange lately. Thinking a lot about Mom. He keeps her picture..." I didn't want to say more. Fortunaly Sadie nodded like she understood. "What's in his workbag?" she asked. "I don't know. He told me never to look." Sadie raised an eyebrow. "And you never did? God that is so like you, Carter. You're hopeless."**

"I agree with myself," Sadie nodded. Carter glared at his sister and was about to say something when Nico cut him off.

"Like how hopeless you're going to be in a few months when that dude in a leather jacket-which I must say is great-dumps you for someone with a _real _British accent and much better looking than you?"

"Whoa, harsh dude." Travis said.

"Does this have to do with anything with your happy meal having apple slices?" Percy raised an eyebrow at his emoish cousin.

"...Maybe..." Nico pouted.

**I wanted to defend myself, but just then a tremor shook the floor. Startled, Sadie grabbed my arm. "He told us to stay put. I suppose you're going to follow that order too?" Actually, that order was sounding pretty good to me, but Sadie sprinted down the hall,**

"Implosive aren't you?" Walt asked with a smile.

Sadie smiled back with a blush.

**and after a moment's hesitation, I ran after her. When we reached the entrance of the Egyptian gallery, we stopped dead in our tracks. **

"Look Annie, you might know what's going on after all." Thalia said.

**Our dad stood in front of the Rosetta Stone with his back to us. A blue circle glowed on the floor around him, as if someone had switched on hidden neon tubes in the floor. My dad had thrown off his overcoat. His workbag lay open at his feet, revealing a wooden box about two feet long, painted with Egyptian images. "What's he holding?" Sadie whispered to me. "Is that a boomerang?" Sure enough, when Dad raised his hand, he was brandishing a curved white stick. It did look like a boomerang. But instead of throwing the stick, he touched it to the Rosetta Stone. Sadie caught her breath. Dad was **_**writing **_**on the stone. Wherever the boomerang made contact, glowing blue lines appeared on the granite. Hieroglyphs.**

Annabeth's eyes widened and she started to wiggle even more which impressively caused her to rip out of the bandages. "Keep reading! I think I just figured it out!"

**It made no sense. How could he write glowing words with a stick? But the image was bright and clear: a ram's horn a box and an X."**_**Open,**_**" Sadie murmured. I stared at her, because it sounded like she had just translated the word, but that was impossible. I'd been hanging around Dad for years, and even I could read only a few hieroglyphs.**

Sadie crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at her big bro. "I'm better than you..." She sang mockingly.

Carter playfully glared at her and lightly smacked her on her arm.

**They are seriously hard to learn. Dad raised his arms. He chanted: "**_**Wo-seer, i-ei.**_**" And tow more hieroglyphics symbols burned blue against the surface of the Rosetta Stone. As stunned as I was, I recognized the first symbol. It was the name of the Egyptian god of the dead. "Wo-seer," I whispered. I'd never heard it pronounced that way, but I knew that it meant. "Osiris."**

"Wow, this is totally not boring anymore." Travis said.

**"**_**Osiris, come,**_**" Sadie said, as if in a trance.**

"Kind of felt like I was in."

**Then her eyes widened. "No!" she shouted. "Dad, no!" Our father turned in surprise. He started to say, "Children-" but it was too late. The ground rumbled. The blue light turned to searing white and the Rosetta Stone exploded.**

**When I regained consciousness, the first thing I heard was laughter-horrible, gleeful laughter mixed with the blare of the museum's security alarms**

Percy shuddered, "I hate that kind of laughter." Carter nodded in agreement.

**I felt like I'd been run over by a tractor. I sat up, dazed and spit a piece of the Rosetta Stone out of my mouth.**

Annabeth gave a overly dramatic gasp, "Your father really _did _explode the Rosetta Stone. The _horror_." She whispered the last part.

**The gallery was in ruins. Waves of fire rippled in pools along the floor. Giant statues had toppled. Sarcophagi had been knocked off their pedestals. Pieces of the Rosetta Stone had exploded**

Que a groan from Annabeth.

**outward with such force that they'd embedded themselves in the columns, the walls, the other exhibits. Sadie was passed out next to me, but she looked unharmed. I shook her shoulder, and she grunted. "Ugh." In front of us, where the Rosetta Stone had been, stood a smoking, sheared-off pedestal. The floor was blackened in a starburst pattern, except for the glowing blue circle around our father. He was facing our direction, **

"You don't know your beautiful! Baby you light up my world like nobody else! The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed!"

"Connor! What are you doing?"

"Travis and I had a bet now every time someone says direction I have to sing a direction song."

**but he didn't seem to be looking at us. A bloody cut ran across his scalp. He gripped the boomerang tightly. I didn't understand what he was looking at. Then the horrible laughter echoed around the room again, and I realized it was coming from right in front of me. Something stood between our father and us. At frist, I could barely make it out-just a flicker of heat. But as I concentrated, it took on a vague form-the fiery outline of a man. He was taller than Dad, and his laugh cut through me like a chainsaw. **

**"Well done," he said to my father. "Very well done, Julius." **

**"You were not summoned!" My father's voice trembled.**

Annabeth groaned, "Another question to find an answer to!"

"Wrong moment to whine Annie." Thalia rolled her eyes.

**He held up the boomerang, but the fiery man flicked one finger, and the stick flew from Dad's hand, shattering against the wall. "I am never summoned, Julius,"**

"Ha, I guess he doesn't go to parties much huh?" Leo joked.

"Yeah, no one really wants an evil god at a party." Zia rolled her eyes at the Latino elf.

**"But when you open a door, you must prepared for guests to walk through."**

**"Back to the Duat!" my father roared. "I have the power of the Great King!"**

**"Oh, scary," the fiery man said with amusement. "And even if you knew how to use that power, which you do not, he was never my match. I am the strongest. Now you will share his fate." I couldn't make sense of anything, but I knew that had to help my dad. ****I tried to pick up the nearest chunk of stone, but I was so terrified my fingers felt frozen and numb. My hands were useless. **

Percy nodded his head in understand meant. They've all been there because of their crazy lives.

**Dad shoot me a silent look of warning: **_**Get out**_**. I realized he was intentionally keeping the fiery man's back to us, hoping Sadie and I would escape unnoticed. Sadie was still groggy. I managed to drag her behind a column, into the shadows. When she started to protest, I clamped my over her mouth. That woke her up. She saw what was happening and stopped fighting. Alarms blared. Fire circled around the doorways of the gallery. The guards had to be on their way, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for us. Dad crouched to the floor, keeping his eyes on his enemy, and opened his painted wooden box. He brought out a small rod like ruler.**

Sadie started to tear up a little. Her brother noticed this and put a hand around her shoulders.

**He muttered something under his breath and the rod like a ruler. He muttered something under his breath and the rod elongated into a wooden staff as tall as he was. Sadie made a squeaking sound. I couldn't believe my eyes either, but things only got weirder. Dad threw his staff at the fiery man's feet, and it changed into an enormous serpent-ten feet long and as I was-with coppery scales and glowing red eyes. I lunged big around at the fiery man, who effortlessly grabbed the serpent by its neck. **

"I have to admit that is really cool." Travis breathed.

"Cliché but cool."

**The man' hand burst into white-hot flames, and the snake burned to ashes. "An old trick, Julius," the fiery man chided. My dad glanced at us, silently urging us again to run. Part of me refused to believe any of this was real. Maybe I was unconscious, having a nightmare. Next to me, Sadie picked up a chunk of stone. "How many?" my dad asked quickly, trying to keep the fiery man's attention. "How many did I release?"**

"Release what?"

**"Why, all five," the man said, as if explaining something to a child. "You should know we're a package deal, Julius. Soon I'll release even more, and they'll be very grateful. I shall be named king again."**

**"The Demon Days," my father said. "They'll stop you before it's too late." The fiery man laughed. "You think the House can stop me? Those old fools can't even stop arguing among themselves. Now let the story be told anew. And this time you shall **_**never **_**rise!" The fiery man waved his hand. The blue circle at Dad's feet went dark. Dad grabbed for his toolbox, but it skittered across the floor. "Good-bye Osiris," the fiery man said.**

**With another flick of his hand, he conjured a glowing coffin around our dad. At first it was transparent, but as our father struggled and pounded on its sides, the coffin became more and more solid-a golden Egyptian sarcophagus inlaid with jewels. My dad caught my eyes one last time, and mouthed the word **_**Run! **_**before the coffin sank into the floor, as if the ground had turned to water.**

Sadie started sobbing by now, her dear brother holding her with tears streaming down his face too. Everybody stayed silent even Nico who would have made fun of Sadie for crying and Annabeth who was silently cheering because she was right!

**"Dad!" I screamed.**

**Sadie threw her stone, but it sailed harmlessly through the fiery man's head. He turned, and for one terrible moment, his face appeared in the flames. What I saw made no sense. It was as if someone had superimposed two different faces on top of each other-one almost human, with pale skin, cruel, angular features, and glowing red eyes, the other like an animal with dark fur and sharp fangs. Worse than a dog or a wolf or a lion-some animal I'd never seen before. Those red eyes stared at me, and I knew I was going to die.**

**Behind me, heavy footsteps echoed on the marble floor of the Great Court. Voices were barking orders. The security guards, maybe the police-but they'd never get here in time. The fiery man lunged at us. A few inches from my face, something shoved him backward. The air sparked with electricity. The amulet around my neck grew uncomfortably hot. The fiery man hissed, regarding me more carefully. "So...it's **_**you**_**." **

"What does he mean by that?"

Carter shook his head, and mouthed _Not now_.

**The building shook again. At the opposite end of the room, part of the wall exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Two people stepped through the gap-the man and the girl we'd seen at the Needle, their robes swirling around them. Both of them held staffs. The fiery man snarled. He looked at me one last time and said, "Soon, boy." Then the entire room erupted in flames. A blast of heat sucked all the air out of my lungs and I crumpled to the floor. The last thing I remember, the man with the forked beard and the girl in blue were standing over me. I heard the security guards running and shouting, getting closer.**

**The girl crouched over me and drew a long curved knife from her belt. "We must act quickly," she told the man.**

**"Not yet," he said with some reluctance. His thick accent sounded French. "We must be sure before we destroy them." I closed my eyes and drifted into unconsciousness. **

Percy slowly closed the book. "Well," he said. "that's the end of the chapter. We should call it a night." A lot of nodding went along the room. Sadie sniffed and got up to her feet, "Good night." Her words slurred as she said it. She went to the door with her name printed on it and shut the door behind her.

~/~

It was the middle of the night when Carter got a knock at his door.

He was laying there staring into darkness, unable to sleep after reliving the day his life changed. He kept think about how diffrent his life would be if Apophis never tried to rise. Sadie would have stayed in London while he traveled around the world with dad. He was still thinking while he was slowly drifting to sleep when he heard someone knock at his door.

Carter groaned and covered his head with his pillow, prying that his _ba _wouldn't leave him. He would have ignored it until the person who was knocking at this ungodly hour, until he heard his sister.

"Carter, open the damn door!" She hissed through the door. Carter groaned again, kicking his sheets off of him. Dragging his feet, he opened the door to meet a puffy eyed Sadie. Carter raised an eyebrow at his annoying sister. "May I help you?" He asked. Sadie looked at her feet, embarrassed and mumbled something he couldn't catch.

"Say that again?"

"Can...can I sleep with you, tonight?" Carter was shocked to say at the lest. His fearless sister, Sadie Kane, was at his door. Asking if she could sleep with him like the few years they spent together when they were kids. After Sadie would have a nightmare after they watched _The Gremlins_. Carter smile, "Sure come on." That night the Kane siblings slept together, Sadie snuggled up to her brother and Carter having his arms wrapped around her.

Maybe it was for the best...

* * *

**Well that was a lot of fun to write! I really liked that Kane moment. Hm...a little OOC but I liked it! Sorry it took so long to update. School started up and marching band and stuff. So yeah anyways two chapters down, thirty-nine to go! Review!**


	4. The Happiest Place on Earth!

**Okay so I keep forgetting to put a disclaimer and in the last chapter I uploaded someone said something that I was claiming Rick Riordan's characters and amazing books and words. No all the characters and bolded words belong to Rick Riordan. I do not own these amazing books. I am just writing this story for practice because I want to be a writer as good as Rick Riordan, James Patterson etc. So I repeat I **_**do not**_** own these stories or these characters. I would like to thank the people who actual read this. Sorry for this being so long just wanted to get it out there. Enjoy!**

The Kane siblings woke up to the smell of pancakes.

The sun shined on Sadie's face, causing her to groan. She was not a morning person everybody knew that but the sun. Her pillow was abnormally warm and it kept rising and lowering. It was really soothing, epically that rhythmic beat it had. And it was snoring lightly...wait. Pillows don't snore. Sadie opened her eyes and craned her neck upwards to see her brother snoring into the top of her head.

Oh that's right, Sadie thought. I slept in Carter's bed last night. She slowly tried to get out of Carter's arms, but he had an iron grip on her. It was a sweet gesture since he was protective of her but she could smell the pancakes in the kitchen and apparently so did her brother since his eyes fluttered open.

"Well I see that you're up so could you possibly let go of me? Please?" It came out harsher then she attended it to. But she did say please. That has to count got something. Right?

"Well good morning to you too," Carter mumbled out, letting go of his sister. He sat up throwing his legs over the ledge of his bed with a very needed groan. Those pillows helped keeping his _ba_ in his body but it did leave him with a massive pain in his neck.

Carter rubbed the back of his neck, hoping that this might get rid of the knot.

"Um, Cater?" He heard Sadie say behind him. He twisted his torso a bit so he could look at . Sadie was playing with her thumbs looked completely uncomfortable.  
"Yeah?"  
"I'm...you...last night...thanks." She said in a rush. Stumbling over her words. She wasn't really the type to show gratitude. Well maybe not to him so he was pretty baffled when she said the word "Thanks".  
He gave a small smile at his sister. "Sure no problem." He said. "Let's go get some pancakes. I'm starving!" So after promising to never speak of this again they went to the kitchen to stuff their faces with pancakes.

~/~

Leo was dragged out of bed.

He really hated that he was the only one here who could actually cook a decent meal. Piper and Annabeth burned anything they made. Frank and Hazel's cooking tasted like shit. And the big three kids had to stay _at least _five feet away from the stove. Grover was another story though. All he made was tofu and cheese enchiladas.

He flipped the pancake that was being made on the skillet. Piper and Jason where sitting at the long dining table, waiting for his very professionally tasting pancakes. He grabbed the second plate that was stacked with pancakes, that he made. Enough for everybody. Once he put it down Piper and Jason started attacking it like a bunch of hungry hyenas. Jason groaned as he chewed his pancakes.

"Seriously Valdez," he said, looking at his best friend. "You can start a business with this food." Piper nodded her head in agreement, her mouth too full to speak words. Leo grinned at his two stupid best friends. Taking his seat in front of them he grabbed some pancakes on his plate. They started to talk about stupid stuff friends usually talk about. Leo telling cheesy jokes, so cheesy that they made Piper and Jason laugh.

A few minutes later the rest of the demigods joined them followed by the Egyptians. Carter and Sadie joining them last.

"And the beast has awakened!" Nico said when Sadie walked in to the kitchen. Sadie ran a hand through her bed head and glared at the son of Hades.

"Not now you annoying emo." She said.

Nico groaned, "I am not emo! How many times do I have to tell you people?" Ignoring Nico Sadie sat next to Leo and grabbed a pancake from the stack. Carter followed pursuit and took his place next to Percy. "So," Carter said through a mouth full of pancakes. "what are we doing today?"

"Well I was thinking we should get to chapter three of the book." Annabeth reached for her orange juice and took a sip. Hearing that they were going to read more of the book Travis and Connor groaned. "Ah come on Annie!" Travis moaned. "Let's do something fun!" Annabeth glared at him for calling her Annie. "And _what _do you think we should do? We don't even know where we are?" She said through gritted teeth. Nico took a sip of his coffee and said, "Where at Anaheim, California. In other words where at Disneyland. The happiest place on earth!"

Everybody stared at him like he was crazy. "How do you know that?" Hazel asked. Nico explained the day they went to go eat out-not daring to say how that day scared him for life-that he say Snow White's evil stepmother in the lobby of the Hotel they were staying at. "I even got her autograph on this apple!" He said, he held up a red apple up with a autograph written on it, smiling widely. "No one eat it." He added quickly.

"Well," Jason said, stretching his arms above his head. "I guess we're going to Disneyland."

~Time Skip~

_It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all! It's a small, small world!_

"Tell me again _why _did we get on _this_ ride?" Nico grumbled. In all the other rides they could have gotten on first they had to get on _It's a Small World. _Now that stupid song was going to be in his head all day. "Oh Nico don't be such a grouch." Hazel smiled at him. She's been smiling all day and the smile wouldn't leave her face. Not that she wanted it to. She was just so happy! This was her first time at Disney Land. She's not the only one though almost everybody here was their first time here. Except for Sadie who was taken to the Disney Land in England thousands of times. The spoiled brat. "You know you're excited to be here!"

Nico grumbled and crossed his arms. It was true that he was excited that he was here but they could have gone on _The Hunted Mansion _first instead of this one. "Yeah, whatever."

"Oh come on Nico!" Percy said throwing an arm over the thirteen year olds' shoulders. "Sing with me! It's a small world after all! It's a small world after all!"

Soon everybody was singing along. Nico praying to whichever god that was hearing him that this would end soon. His prays where answered soon enough when they made it back to the sunshine of the sun. Apollo seemed to shine brighter at Disney Land.

"Oh thank the gods!" Nico jumped out of the boat before it came to a complete stop. They all walked to the gift shop the exit lead them to all still humming the song-to Nico's dismay. When they got there they started looking through the items of the gift shop. Hazel bought a Minnie Mouse Princess hat. Frank bought a light up toy for the parks night shows. Leo bought one of those pin holding things that you hang around your necks wanting to collect as many as he could today.

The rest didn't buy any, not seeing anything that drew attention to them. So they waited until they saw some other stuff. "Alrighty then!" Percy said as the whole group of teenagers gathered around. Bast wasn't with them saying that she had to go meet with the other gods. "So where do we go next?"

"Frank and I wanted to go to the Tea Cups." Hazel said smiling like a little five year old. Percy noticed that Nico and Hazel had the same twinkle in their eyes when they smiled. "But we wanted to go to the _Pirates of the Caribbean _ride." Leo said for him, Jason and Piper. Everybody wanted to go to different rides so Annabeth suggested they split up. Percy didn't think it was a good idea. What if one of them got attacked by a monster?

But Annabeth had an answer for that too, "Don't worry seaweed brain. Every Disney Land park is safe for all demigods. Why do you think it's could the happiest place on earth?"

"Wait, so Walt Disney was a demigod?" Zia asked.

"Yes, son of Morpheus. How do you think he came up with all of this?"

"Well then looks like we're splitting up then."

~/~

Hazel was having the time of her life!

She's met almost every Disney princess, all she needs now is her favorite one, Tiana. She's made Frank buy her almost every cute little stuffed doll she's seen. They didn't have to worry about spending too much. The gods had it covered. This place was so amazing! Magic at every corner, sweat snacks everywhere! This was like a dream come true. It was like all her worries went away. She didn't have to worry about being attacked by monsters every two seconds. She loved it! She really loved New Orleans Square the best though. It reminded her of the times when she would spend her afternoons with Sammy, Leo's grandfather. **(A/N: I believe Sammy is Leo's grandfather. It kind of makes sense.) **

Right now they were eating at one of the restaurants. She was eating some gumbo, but it wasn't as good as her mom's gumbo. You know the one she use to make before she went completely insane. "Are you having fun Hazel?" Frank asked from the other side of the table. Hazel couldn't help but smile at him. She's been dragging him everywhere and he never complained.

"I'm having the time of my life Frank! This is amazing! I didn't know they had New Orleans here! This is...it's just amazing." She looked around the amazing place and sighed dreamily. Frank smiled at this. He was happy that Hazel was having a wonderful time. Even if he did have to eat this _really _spicy gumbo. It was worth it to see her beautiful smile. He was having fun too, he's always wanted to come visit this happy place. His mom promised she would take him when she'd come back home. But after what happened he never got to go.

His mom would have liked it here. Thinking about his mom kind of brought his spirits down. He really did miss her.

"Hey Frank?" Hazel said, making Frank jump in his seat startled by her voice. "Do you want to go on the Mark Twain boat?" She gave him that lovely smile of hers that always caused him to melt like butter. Frank agreeing to go take a ride on the boat. After they finished eating their gumbos-Frank coughing once or twice because it was too spicy-they waited for the boat at the dock.

Once they were on the boat they climbed the stairs to the second floor and watched as the river boat went around the little human made island, holding each other's hands. They

~/~

Leo didn't really think it was possible to be a third wheel in the happiest place on earth, but he was proved wrong.

Jason and Piper where in front of him, all snuggled up to each other. They've been waiting to get on the _Pirate's of Caribbean _ride for half an hour and he was stuck looking at them trying to get it on. Leo knew that his friends weren't _trying _to make him feel like a third wheel. But it also didn't help that they would entwine their hands together. How they would peck each other on the cheek and give one another a dreamy smile. It might have made him sound bitter about how his two _best friends _who were _dating _were acting like a normal _couple _bothered him so much. 

Yeah, okay, he was happy for them but it made him feel like he was intruding in a secrete couple ritual that he wasn't suppose to see since he was a lone wolf and all. It was awkward enough that he was sitting next to some random girl. At least she was kind of cute. She looked like she was a Latina. And she was talking, well _trying to _talk to the other couple next to Jason and Piper in Spanish. Once the girl noticed that the couple wasn't listening she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

The boat started moving forward. They were passing the restaurant that lead to the entrance of the ride when the girl actually talked to him. "Rude isn't it?" She said turning to him. Her hazel eyes meeting his light brown ones. "This is supposed to be a fun trip for all of us but all it seems that they're doing is sucking each other's faces off." Leo nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah I guess it is pretty awkward." Leo made a face when he noticed that Jason and Piper having a full out make out session right in front of him. "Damn straight it is. Hi, I'm Annette. Nice to meet you." Annette stuck out her hand for a handshake. Leo took her hand and shook it, giving her one of his famous grins to go with it.

"Leo, nice to meet you." They were coming to an old wooden swamp house with an old man playing a banjo. "So it's your first time at Disney Land." Annette said, smiling at the old man that was rocking on his old rocking chair. Leo nodded his head, "Yeah it is. How'd you know?" She pointed to the yellow button that was pinned to his shirt. He looked at it and saw that is said _First Visit! _with all of Mickey's friends all cheering and smiling up at him. "Oh yeah," Leo mumbled. Leo forgot that the lady they bought their tickets from gave everyone of them-except that blonde British girl, Sadie-one because their first visit was a really special one.

"You're going to love this ride." Annette grinned at him.

"I already love it since I saw that talking bird when I walked in." Leo laughed.

"Well prepare to stalk this ride for the rest of your life because you're never going to forget this." Leo was about to ask why when he heard a voice talking and screaming. He looked up and saw a talking skull and then he watched as the boat in front of them disappear.

"_Dead man tell no tale..._" And then they dropped. Leo screaming like a manly girl, causing Annette to laugh uncontrollable next to him. The rest of the ride Leo and Annette played a game trying to find Captain Jack Sparrow. Which wasn't a complete and total fair game because Annette knew where exactly he was. They sang along with the automations which had nothing on Festus. He would make jokes at some points which made her laugh. The ending of the ride came to quickly for Leo and Annette. They got off the ride and walked with each other to the exit.

Telling each other what their favorite part of the ride was. They said their goodbyes at the end of the walk. Annette gave them a quick peck on his cheek and walked towards her group of friends.

Leo couldn't help but smile. He got a girl to kiss him! Without him begging her to! "Leo!" He heard from one of the gift shops. Leo looked over and saw Jason and Piper wave at him. "Come on! We have to figure out which ride to go on next." Leo smiled at his two stupid best friends and ran towards them mentioning one the rides Annette recommended to him.

"Let's go find a ride called Indiana Jones."

~/~

_"Welcome foolish mortals..."_

Nico was excited, so excited that his usual scowl on his face was turned into a small smile. But no one seemed to notice, well maybe Percy since he caught him smiling and the stupid son of the sea god's smile turned into that stupid grin of his. He was crowded in the main lobby with a bunch of people he didn't even know.

He saw little kids hold their parent's hand. Their eyes wide with fear as the voice says his usual speech.

_"I am your host...your ghost."_ The eerie voice chuckled at his own joke. Nico couldn't help but chuckle with it. He waited until the worker closed the doors. There was so many people crowded up together he lost Percy, Thalia, Grover and Annabeth for a minute. He found them right dead in the middle of the whole crowd. He didn't mind. It was actually better than being crushed up against the wall. They waited a few more minutes until the doors slid shut. Once they were shut the room was only lit by the eerier candle sticks. He would never admit it _but _he was a little nervous about the ride. It didn't help that the gargoyles were glaring at them. Especially those portraits high up the wall. Their eyes kept following him.

_"Our tour begins here in this gallery. Where you see some paintings of some of our guests..." _

The voice kept saying things about the people in the portraits when he noticed the paintings stretching. Was the floor sinking? Or where the walls stretching? He didn't know. Was he just imagining this? _Get a hold of yourself_, He scolded himself. _This is only a ride. _

_"You might want to take notice," _The voice said above him. _"that this chamber has no way __**out**__..."_ Now Nico was starting to panic he quickly scanned the whole room and noticed the voice was telling the truth. There. Was. No. Way. **Out**_**. **_His breath started to quicken. He wasn't good at staying at places for too long. It made him feel like he was going to stay there forever like he did back in the _Lotus Casino_. That's why he never stayed at camp the whole year and traveled around the US. He didn't want to spend another eighty years and never age in another weird place. He started shaking really badly.

He had to get out! He just had to! Maybe he could pry open the doors with his sword. He reached to where his sword usually hang from but quickly remembered that they didn't _bring _any of their weapons with them. Sadie saying that it wasn't necessary to bring them to Disney Land. Damn that stupid British girl. She really got on his nerves. Nico was about to burst when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Percy smiling down at him reassuringly. Nico didn't know why but he started to calm down a bit. Percy always did that no matter what mood he was in, Percy was the only one who would get him to calm down. Well next to Hazel of course.

Percy for some reason _cared _for Nico. After all the _shit _that he put him through he still cared for him. He would sometimes come to his apartment in Manhattan when he was seriously hurt and he would always see a worried expression on the son of sea god's face. He would never say this out loud but he was grateful for Percy. He was the only one who actually cared about him after Bianca left and got herself killed. Leaving him-a little ten year old boy-in the dangerous life of a demigod. Nico made a grab for Percy's other hand and gave it a squeeze. Percy squeezing his hand back, silently telling him that he was right there next to him.

_"Now I leave you this chilling challenge. To find a way __**out!**__" _The man's voice laughed like an evil mad man. Which he found a little cheesy.

_"Of course there's always my way..." _Nico saw most people look up so he did the same. Lightning flashed making the room go dark. He heard some little kids screaming, he wanted to scream with them because from the ceiling he saw a _body _hanging from a rope. But then as fast as the lightning came the room went back to its usual eerie brightness and he heard the voice apologize for giving them such a fright.

Then to all Zeus's glory he saw two pairs of doors open. Everybody started heading towards the doors, which lead to a dark hallway. With the rest of the gang he followed the rest of the people. As they walked through the hallway Percy asked him with he was fine.

"Yeah," Nico said. "I'm fine." Percy nodded and they went on with the rest of the ride.

~/~

The rest of the day every one of our heroes had the times of their lives. They went as many rides they could get on. Nico had a blast on The Hunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. He really didn't like the Snow White ride since he got scared when he saw the evil witch turn around and tried to kill him! When that's what he claimed it tried to do. And his two stupid cousins wouldn't stop teasing him. Leo also had a great time after he got kissed on the cheek him and his two best friends went on all the fast pace rides and after they finished all of those they went on the baby rides. He was able to collect almost everyone of his favorite characters in pin form. His favorite one was one that was based on his favorite ride of all time, _Pirates of the Caribbean_.

Percy had to drag his friends to the Nemo ride. He acted like a total little kid throughout the whole ride. Which wasn't unusual behavior for him Annabeth told him. Sadie and Carter had a total sister and brother moment throughout the whole adventure at Disney. Hazel finally got the last of her autographs and she got to sing along side with Princess Tiana! She was so happy she jumped into Frank's arms and kissed him. A real kiss.

Travis and Connor had fun with Peter Pan (one of their role models) and ate like they've never eaten before! They all met for the last event of the whole day...the fireworks. They were _amazing_! They all returned to their hotel room tired and worn out. They all changed into PJs and passed out as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

**Well the ending sucked. But yeah this was fun to write. Wanted to give them a break from reading. So yeah, review! See you soon!**


	5. IAccidentallyVaporizemyPreAlge braTeache...

**A/N: Every bold leever and character belongs to Rick Riorda**

"So it's decided we're reading **The Lightning Thief **next." Annabeth said to the group of hormonal teens. After eating breakfast of _chilaquiles_ (a Mexican breakfast dish) made by "the amazing chef Leo" they debated on ether reading Percy's book and then switching back to the Kane books or not. To Percy's dismay they all agreed.

"And then we read the books _we _come out." Hazel said, gesturing to her fellow Romans and new Greeks.

"Um...no." Annabeth answered. All the new demigods went into an uproar, ether yelling "what?" or "why not?". Except for Leo, who yelled out "It's because I'm black isn't it!"

Before any of them could continue on ranting on about how unfair that was Annabeth told them -a bit loudly- to "shut the hell up!" and continued on explaining on how if they read their books the Kanes and their friends would be rather confused.

"Am I understood?" Annabeth looked at the rest of the seven for conformation and when she got it she passed the book to Carter who volunteered to read back at the kitchen table.

Carter cleared his throat then began to read out loud, "Chapter one, **I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher.**"

"Cool!" Leo and Sadie both cheered.

**"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

All the demigods in the room snorted.

"No one every wants to be a half-blood seaweed brain." Annabeth told her boyfriend.

"Well except death boy over here." Thalia said pointing to Nico. Said boy lost his amused look on his face and glared at Thalia.

"Never speak of that again!"

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

**close this book right now. Believe what ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"I don't think that would work." Hazel said.

"No, it would but it won't last long." Pipper said while Leo nodded next to her.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

Everybody in the room grimced at how true that sentence was.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before _they _sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't warn us." Both Stoll brothers smirked.

"Shut up you idiots."

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"Like we didn't know that already."

**I'm twelve years old. Until a _few _months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes," Everyone in room said.

"I am not!" Percy pouted.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"You're not supposed to agree with them!" Percy yelled at the book while the rest of them chuckled.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That sounds like fun!" Annabeth said with Carter agreeing with her.

"No it doesn't," Sadie said looking at them like they were crazy. "It sounds like torture!"

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

"Nooooo! Percy I'm losing you to that British wannbe!" Nico said in mock horror causing every body to laugh and Sadie to glare. "Don't go to the dark side!"

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. **

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Hmm...he sounds familiar..." Travis said rubbing his chin like if he had a beard.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy, was I wrong.**

Thalia snorted, "Of course you are. You're always wrong."

**"See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

"What _were_ you aiming at?" Sadie asked while everybody was still laughing. Percy stopped laughing and stared into space, his brows forward in concentration.

"I don't know to tell you the truth."

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"Yeah I think we do," Hazel chuckled.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover ****in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Bitch," Thalia muttered under her breathe.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I bet Grover would have loved to hear that."

Currently their saytr friend was off on God of the Wild duties along with that cat goddess.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

Everyone chuckled at the antics of the young Saytr.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Well that's no fun," Connor said.

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

_That sounds promising, _that was what ran through everyone's mind.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"It lasted longer than that," Carter told Percy, stopping the reading for a few seconds.

"I know that," Percy pouted.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a _stele, _for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

Nico and Percy shuddered at the reminder of 'Mrs. Dodds'.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

Percy chuckled at the memory of his teacher breaking down in the middle of the lesson. It was quite a site.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Turer words have never been spoken."

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you _shut up_?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

A groan came from the entrance of the kitchen which was behind the demigod couch. All at once, the young heros took out their wands (much to the demigods confussion) and swords and pointed it at the threat.

Said threat was a teenage boy who looked a lot like Percy, same hair, same eyes but he had a longer nose and a more confident almost godly stance.

"I_ hate _that story," Percy clone groaned, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Why do they have to tell _that _story?"

"I don't see why you don't like it," Another teenage boy said standing next to Percy clone. This one looked similar to Jason except had black hair, no scar, and more greek features than roman ones. "I find it one of my favorites."

"That's because_ you _didn't have to wait in there your whole childhood for your baby brother to come and rescue you," A third boy spoke up, this one being Nico's clone but having the same differences as the Percy clone.

All five big three kids put down their weapons and together chimed, "Dad?"

Poseidon grinned while his brothers gave a small smile.

"What are you guys doing here...sirs." Percy added after an afterthought. He did not want to be struck by lightning or any other element.

"Oh come now Percy," Poseidon said, taking a seat on a throne he made appear. "Sir makes me feel old, call me dad."

"And _that_ doesn't make you feel old?" Zues asked sitting on his more kingish throne in the middle of his two brothers.

"To answer your question young Perseus," Hades said for his two bickering brothers. "Your _father_ thought it would be fun to read along with you. And of course your uncle being the paranoid bastard he his," -everyone except for Zeus and his children laughed- "he made sure he and I came along. So on with that happy thought why don't we continue?"

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he _did _this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, ****and—"**

"GOD?" Everybody yelled.

Zeus was redder in the face than a Weasley, glared at Percy with all his might. "How _dare_ you call that...that..._beast_ a god!"

"Yeah Perce," Thalia said rolling his eyes at her idiot cousin. "Honestly, how stupid can you be?"

"I was_ twelve!" _Percy said defensively.

**"god?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"Mother always did like you best." Hades and Poseidon grumbled together.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

Poseidon rolled his eyes, "Yeah well, _you _didn't have to be in there."

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

Annabeth and Carter both gapped at him.

"What?" Percy asked stupidly.

"You told an epic war between the gods and titans that last for so long in one sentence flat." Carter said before Annabeth could.

Percy simply shrugged his shoulders, "I'm cool like that."

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"You would be surprised," Sadie said, mysteriously.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"They have," Jason muttered under his breathe.

"**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever _lived, _and their mother, and what god they worshiped.**

"Sounds like a fun class!" Carter said.

"It was," Percy smiled.**  
**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be _as good; _he expected me to be _better. _And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

"Temper, temper." Posiedon said, waving his index finger at his brother as if scolding a child.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"What was that, you were saying brother?" Zeus smirked.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from _that _school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Oh we know," Jason said. "No need to tell us."

Everyone chuckled as Percy playfully glared at his cousin.**  
**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone laughed.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me**

Posiedon smiled dreamly, "Sally is a great woman." Percy and everybody that has met her nodded in agreement.

**, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Aww, cute." Every female in the room cooed. Making the males chuckle at Percy's blushing face.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Angry growls came from the demigods.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"A wave, huh?" Hades said, him and Zues glaring at Posiedon. Who was looking anywhere else but them.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Anything to say_ brother_?" Zeus crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"_Look_ at that pretty bird outside the window."

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"Nooo," The Stoll brothers groaned. "_Never _guess your punishment!"

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Duh!"

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. _I _pushed her."**

"That was really brave of him," Walt said.

"He always is," Percy said, Nico and Thalia nodding their heads on ether side of him.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "_Now_."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Ah yes, most children of ours are very good at giving those." Hades said with an aproving nod.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"That's what they want you to think." Frank said.

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

_That's not good, _ran through everyone's thoughts.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

Percy shuddered.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"You did that too?" Leo and the Stolls asked.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on _Tom Sawyer _from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Understandable," Posiedon, Sadie and Leo nodded their heads in agreement. Causing their siblings (Piper in Leo's case) to roll their eyes at them.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"A FURY!" Posiedon yelled at Hades. He had this murderous gleam in his eyes that would have made any mortal cower. But Hades just shurgged and said, "I thought he deserved it at the time."

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, **

"That ho," Nico smirked as he pointed a fingr to Sadie. This made everyone laugh and caused him to get a glare from Sadie.

**and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"Gods, what's with her and honey?" Nico asked. "It's making me hungry!"

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. _Hisss!_**

"Why do you refrence everything to water?" Piper asked.

"Must be a Posiedon thing," Prrcy shrugged.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"The mist still affects you?"

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

Some snorted at this.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

Connor took at a pen and a notepad out of nowhere and worte down, "Teach Grover how to lie."

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

People looked at Zues, who ignored them.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"Now Ch-Mr. Brunner can lie," Travis said, not wanting to reveal who Mr. B really was.

"**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"That's the end of the chapter," Cater said, closing the book. "Who wants to read next?"

**A/N: Sorry if it seems crappy had to write everything in the pad since I can't use my laptop. Anyways Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!**


	6. You better fucking read this

**A/N: Okay look, I'm glad you guys like this story but calm your tits down everyone. That means you warkitty. Just wait okay!? I'm getting tired of getting reveiws in my mail saying "YOU HAVENT UPDATED?! HURRY UP LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOL!" **

**It gets fucking annoying. So if I keep getzing messages like that I won't even bother with this anymore. I have other things to fucking do, okay? Like school and band. So because I'm so fucking pissed I won't be updating until I get on A in math I need this semester and if you have a problem with that...fuck you.**

**If you _really _liked this story you will wait until I want to fucking continue this stupid story. **

**Now farewell.**


	7. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

**A/N: All right my peoples I am back! After my little Author's notes you guys acted it way more better and **_**way **_**more hilarious then I expected. Now I will answer to your reviews because I loved them **_**so **_**much.**

**ChossenOne00: Thank you! That means alot!**

**Princess Rosemarie: I tend to get to my points fairly quickly.**

**TooTiredToSignIn: Most minors can say worst profanities then the one I said in the last author's note.**

**Good Luck: I play the flute and as you can see, I did not forget you guys for two years. And I don't think I'll be planning on canceling the story anytime soon.**

**Gc: I'm going to put you comment on because this made laugh way to hard.**

**Review from Gc: **_**You have a problem- if you are going to treat your reviewers like this than you shouldn't even be on fan fiction! What's your problem!**_

**Like I said this made me laugh so much! Thank you for your kind words! You sir, are a ray of sunshine!**

**E. E. Terrill: Well...I updated.**

**Bookworm11114: Yes I do **

_**Disclaimer**_**: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Rick.**

.~.~.~.~.~.~.

" **Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death,**" Nico read.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman **

"Ew...she sounds like a horrible teacher."

**whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"Because Grover is such a horrible liar." Thalia said. Most of the demigods nodded their heads in agreement.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

**Something was going on. Something**_**had**_**happened at the museum.**

Thalia rolled her eyes, "No duh Kelp-For-Brains."

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

Percy shivered since he stills suffers from those horrible dreams.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows** **in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Don't you think you guys where overreacting a bit?" Hades asked his two brothers.

Poseidon and Zeus both shared a look before answering, "No."

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from D's to F's.**

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, **

All the females awed.

**even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

A low menacing growl that sounded more animal than human came from deep down Poseidon's throat.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view** **of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,** **even if he was a little strange.**

"Awe that's so sweet Percy." Piper cooed, sounding more like an Aphrodite kid.

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the**_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology**_**across my dorm room.**

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

Nico stopped reading for a second to scratch an itch behind his neck.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes.**_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before.**

"Maybe that's why you've never gotten any good grades." Annabeth scolded.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"You really look up to him," Zia said.

Percy smiled, "Yeah I do."

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

_**"...**_ **worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,** **but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

"I see you are Eavesdropping Percy." Travis said.

"Naughty, Naughty!" Connor waved a finger in front of Percy's face in a mocking manner.

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the**_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and**_**they**_**know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"I bet he's still waiting for that to happen." Thalia said, earning a punch in the arm from Percy.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line—**_**"**_

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he**_**saw**_**her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again."**

Thalia and Zeus's faces both darkened.

**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"No!" Travis and Connor yelled.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow**_**clop-clop-clop,**_**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

"Ew, I bet he's had to do a ton of those since it's a part of his job and all." Leo said.

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression,**

"That won't work," Annabeth said in a sing-song voice.

**and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

"Well isn't that an awesome peptalk." Hades said sarcastically.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"We really need to make Chiron work on his peptalks." Posiedon said since he was not happy that his son was being put down.

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were**_**rich**_**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"Well isn't that nice." Jason said.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

"Something bad always happens."

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"That must have scared the shit out of him!" Annabeth said as she slap her boyfriend's arm.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much **_**did **_**you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"How much did you hear?" Carter asked. Percy thought about it for a second then shrugged.

"I don't know," He said. "Half of it maybe."

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? Ihere mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

"Man, he is a really, really bad liar." Poseidon said.

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Huh, you think like your son." Hades said.

Poseidon smiled at Percy who smiled back at him.

"That explains his inability to think." Zeus said.

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)**_ _**009-0009**_

_"_Why does he do that?" Travis asked.

"He has to find _some _from of entertainment." Hades said.

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"That's kinda sad."

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Harsh dude, harsh." Leo said.

"I know,"Percy bowed his head. He didn't mean to make it sound harsh.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

All the females cooed.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me.**_

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

"I have a feeling something bad is going to happen." Sadie said.

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice**_**.**_**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Nico stared at the book with eyes wide as the moon.

"What?!" He yelped. "The Fates! You saw the fates! Holy shit! You're so fucking screwed!"

"Thanks for the confidence." Percy said, rolling his eyes at Nico's over reaction. But it seemed that everyone in the room got a bit tense.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

Poseidon whimpered a bit.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny Percy," Thalia moaned out.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears.**

Carter's eyes widened, he has read enough mythology books to know what this meant.

**I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"Smart idea,"

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

"Oh yeah, and it's plenty fresh in a cabin." Nico said.

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

Everybody groaned at Percy's stupidity.

"Hey, give me a break!" He said. "I didn't know what was going on!"

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that **_**snip **_**across four lanes of traffic.**

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

"Yay!" Poseidon cheered

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

The Greeks groaned. Why did it always have to be Percy?

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"They're much worse," Annabeth said.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

Most of the Greeks flinched at the mention of Grover's first job.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the flowers on my coffin.**

Nico closed the book to the room of silence.

"Well," He said. "That was quite a dramatic end to the second chapter." Most of the room mummered their agreements.

"So who wants to read next chapter of the Kane book?" Annabeth asked.

"OH! OH! MEEEEEE! PICK MEEEEE!" Connor yelled, bouncing up and down in his seat. Waving his arm back and forth.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Fine." She tossed the book at his head. The spine of the book hitting him on his forehead.

"Ow!" Connor complained. "What was that for?!"

Annabeth smirked as the rest laughed, "Just read Stoll."

Connor glared and mumbled some profanities in Greek before starting the Kane book.

**"Imprisoned with my Cat," **He read.

**A/N: Done! Haha! See I didn't leave you guys just needed a while before I could update. xP**


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